]]>For Baselworld 2018, Rolex’s infant brother Tudor replica watches published a few hit versions from the popular Black Bay series that much more or less overshadowed even the introduction of an entirely new lineup. We’ve reviewed the Black Bay Fifty-Eight here along with also the Black Bay GMT here, however now we’re now getting around to the newest Tudor 1926 view collection. Most noteworthy about the new Tudor 1926 is that, at below $2,000 at least to its steel versions, it signifies a new entry point for your brand.

The brand new collection comes in a range of alternatives. To begin with there are nine potential variations in each case dimensions of 41mm, 39mm, 36mm, or 28mm instance widths — that is 36 total versions and nearly sufficient to make picking one feel as the process of customizing it (as most”customizable” watches are all drills in choosing and combining a variety of elements anyhow ). Both potential case endings are all-steel or even a two-tone steel and rose gold, and also our hands on pictures are of one in every completing, either in 41mm. Having a good caseback and screw-down crown, all versions are water-resistant to 100m.

As a range of manufacturers perform, Tudor pelagos replica watch has sets with in-house moves along with less expensive lines with sourced movements, both aiming for (and possibly attaining ) comparative value in their segments. Powering the Tudor 1926 might be the common ETA 2824 automatic movement, but for the 28mm versions that use the ETA 2671 that stocks the 2824’s recognizable specs with automatic winding, a 4Hz operating frequency, and approximately 38 hours of power reserve. Similar floor was coated with the Tudor Style we analyzed here concerning positioning as a dressy however flexible and comparatively affordable daily watch using a sourced motion, along with the Tudor 1926 almost looks like it might have been a subfamily of it.

The conventional dial layout of thisTudor 1926 replica watchesusing its even-numbered hour markers in Arabic numerals reminds me slightly of that Frederique Constant Runabout or maybe an Oris Big Crown Pointer Date (a version of that I’m wearing as I write this),” especially in the two-tone. The odd-numbered hour mark are faceted and arrow-shaped or accessible diamond-set. The steel, rose gold, or blued hour mark are employed atop a white or black embossed dial using a”waffle” pattern at the middle. The dial is farther slightly domed, even though it may be tough to tell in the images. A few of the images do exemplify the legibility issue I’ve harped about several times prior to glistening hands on shadowy dials, however, the dial feel here helps.

As previously mentioned, the new Tudor 1926 watches represent the brand’s cheapest offerings. The notion of”buying in” to the Tudor club by obtaining the name onto your wrist is sort of ironic as for most people Tudor england imitation watch is a budget approach to purchase into the Rolex — and it’s much less costly, needless to say, than Rolex’s”price of entry” together with all the Oyster Perpetual. The Tudor 1926 will aim to contend with watches at its price segment together with all the prestige of its title (and its own grand association) which comprises a guarantee of exceptional quality and ending. The seven-link bracelet with contrasting finishes which communicates all variations of this watch is excellent and a boost into the Tudor 1926’s entire allure.

The Tudor investment imitation watches1926 set ranges from $1,675 for the 28mm in steel (without increased gold hands and markers) into $3,400for its two-tone 41mm version with six diamond hour markers. The two-tone increased gold variations are usually priced about $1,000 over their metal counterparts. For the specific models revealed here, the 41mm in most steel using all the white dial and blue hands/indices includes a cost of $1,850 along with both tone version with black dial is $2,875.

]]>https://www.repsswiss.com/new-tudor-1926-watch-for-2018-hands-on/feed/0Replica Clearance Richard Mille RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronographhttps://www.repsswiss.com/replica-clearance-richard-mille-rm-11-03-mclaren-automatic-flyback-chronograph/
https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-clearance-richard-mille-rm-11-03-mclaren-automatic-flyback-chronograph/#respondTue, 08 May 2018 05:42:33 +0000http://www.repsswiss.com/?p=2478Behold, the Richard Mille RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronograph marks the debut of yet another over the top watch from the purveyor of over the top watches. I have...

Behold, the Richard Mille RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronograph marks the debut of yet another over the top watch from the purveyor of over the top watches. I have been covering Richard Mille – and other, similarly unorthodox watches – for so long, that nowadays sometimes my mind’s immediate reaction when looking at them is not awe, but rather a sort of sympathy to my fellow watch lovers who simply can’t enjoy these watches. Still, I can’t help but love these watches and if there was an MRI machine around, I’m sure it could show that the part of my brain that enjoys these, is the same that gets a kick out of colorful G-Shocks.

Since none of my, or Richard Mille’s (though, mind you, basically non-existent) efforts will ever suffice to change the minds of hardcore traditionalist watch lovers, why am I still talking about them? I ended up asking myself this very same question and came up with the answer that perhaps it’s this natural thing where if you enjoy something, you at times kind of want others to get what you like about it. Anyhow, enough talk about what this watch (and brand) isn’t, and let’s look at the bonkers new Richard Mille RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronograph.

The RM011 has been around for ages, and in that time it has become the most instantly recognizable Richard Mille – it’s their Porsche 911, the only difference is that it costs more than most 911s. In all these years, the RM011 has seen many different variations, most notably the ones that have advanced in their details and have marked this evolution by taking on the brand’s naming scheme reserved for marking this progression. As such, the RM 11-03, although it’s been out for some time, is the most advanced 11-series Richard Mille thus far.

Before we talk looks, let’s get a glimpse under the hood: the RMAC3 caliber has a fly-back chronograph, a 60-minute countdown timer at 9 o’clock (that is actually a reversed 60-minute chronograph totalizer, but you won’t see that pointed out by anyone, really), a 12-hour totalizer, as well as an “oversize date” and month. The RM011 used to be an annual calendar, but there is no mention of that feature here – I guess it may still be in there somewhere.

If anything, a rather hilarious aspect of Richard Mille that I will point out is how challenged they seem to deliver their own tech specs. I’ve yet to see a Richard Mille product page on their website or a press release that has all the basic info and that didn’t have some mixed-up elements that look like some unbelievably quirky details and some important specs were written on post-it notes, put into a blender, and whatever came out arranged into a PDF. On this occasion, the RMAC3 caliber’s basic functions are discussed and right under it, it says: “Dimensions: 49.94 x 44.50 x 16.23 mm.” I mean, us nerds, we know that’s for a case, but should anyone outside of our circles dare cover this watch they’d have no idea.

I still enjoy reading amusingly detailed stuff like “Balance: Glucydur®, 4 arms, moment of inertia 4.8 mg.cm2 angle of lift 53°” or “Shock protection: INCABLOC 908.22.211.100 (transparent)” or “Barrel arbour – in AP 20 steel.” Just totally random, entirely intimidating and largely unintelligible stuff that I am absolutely sure they fully understand has no effect whatsoever on the mind of someone buying this watch – perhaps other than that of “cool intimidation” in isolated cases – and if that’s not a marketing thing already, then, well, it has to be.

Anyhow, all my watches must strictly have a 52° angle of lift, not one bit more, so the RM 11-03 is, unfortunately, off my list now!

The baseplate and bridges are still made from grade 5 titanium, an impressive feat – achieved by Vaucher manufacture who, along with APR&P, supply Richard Mille with movements; although I’ve seen that some work is performed on the movements on Richard Mille’s premises, which by itself is impressive as even their most basic movements have some cool and rare quirks. The RMAC3 caliber’s bridges and plates are crafted from an alloy of 90% grade 5 titanium, 6% aluminum, and 4% vanadium. The end result is a watch that feels feather light on the wrist with an unusual, but neat weight balance, hence drastically improving wearability.

Despite its slim case, the RM033 has fantastic volume to it. The “spline screws” that hold the bezel, case-band and case-back collectively force the case-band to possess protruding tunnels for the screws to go through, while anyplace else on the case’s side, lots of substance was removed. This negative space actually adds volume to the RM033 — with bare eyes, or perhaps looking through a large magnification loupe or macro lens in smaller segments of the instance, there is just so much to look at and appreciate.The five-prong torque screws of the bezel sit inside their little valleys, surrounded by exceptionally accurately machined, beveled and polished curves — all eight of these. Four only hold the bezel, but one in every lug appears to repair the lugs to the case-band and case-back. The latter is one solid piece that includes the curve to maneuver under the lugs, that’s the conventional and highly ergonomic curved case profile which Richard Mille has on all its watches, however thin.The crown is enormous and intricately crafted out of unusual stuff: the black piece is ceramic and the detailing is in a material that matches the case — here it has an 18k white gold spike. The ceramic even has alternating finishing which is something I have not seen performed on such a small piece. This crown has to be so ridiculously hard to supply and get right that things like this will hardly ever be present on even mid-five figure watches — it simply will not be, because designers at the vast majority of other luxury brands don’t even dare consider stuff like this, and especially not with these regularity.While functionality-wise the crown is solid as it should be, with double O-rings and a totally over-engineered clickyness for this, it took me a great time to get accustomed to its appearances — it just renders the entire watch more womanly in my own eyes at least, though I am sure it wouldn’t stand this out much when the watch has been on a black strap (more about the strap at a bit).

Speaking of which, I should add that yeah, the design may not be for everyone, and the pricing is decidedly not for almost anyone – but the eggheads at Richard Mille could definitely teach the larger industry a thing or two about wearability and comfort. The Richard Mille watches I’ve had the chance to wear – including some for an extended period of testing, like this RM033 here, or this RM011 here – were all among the most comfortable watches I’ve ever worn. Without going into a deeper discussion of the topic, I’ll also add that unless you’re spending your time among the top 1% of the top 1% (which I am not), in my experience nobody, and I do mean absolutely nobody out in the real world recognizes Richard Mille watches, so the massive show-off factor that some associate with a watch that comes at six-figure prices is entirely unsubstantiated.

The case, whose dimensions we’ve familiarized ourselves with already, is a mix of Carbon TPT and Quartz TPT, two exclusive materials with, uhm, a matching appearance. The surface displays regular undulations, thanks to the countless, 45-micron-thin layers of parallel filaments, obtained by dividing carbon fiber or silica threads. These layers are impregnated with resin and then woven on a special machine that modifies the direction of the weft by 45° between layers. Then, Quartz TPT layers are saturated in an orange resin, developed specially for Richard Mille to, you guessed it, match the orange color of McLaren. Heated to 120°C at a pressure of 6 bars, these materials are then ready to be processed on a CNC machine in Richard Mille’s case factory. The case of the RM 11-03 is water-resistant to 50m, ensured by two Nitrile O-ring seals. The case is assembled with 20 spline screws in grade 5 titanium and abrasion-resistant washers in 316L stainless steel.

The end result is a case that’s an acquired taste. What Richard Mille gets right is that they, along with few other brands, understand that the people who buy one McLaren after the other, are constantly overwhelmed by the products they own – and I’m sorry, but the only reason they’d wear a flat, round, discreet, small, uncomplicated watch when they go for a drive, is because they’d enjoy the way it contrasts against all the tech in their cars. So, in this sense, this watch is a good match to McLaren, who’s been on a roll recently with the launch of the Senna and Senna GTR, the 720S and, a few years ago, the P1.

If I had all the money in the world, would I have and wear an RM011? You bet I would – had it complied with my strict angle of lift requirements, that is! Would it be this one with this much orange and yellow? Maybe not. Still, I imagine this latest RM 11-03 will do really well, as it’s an admirably good match to McLaren and its privileged clientèle.

]]>https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-clearance-richard-mille-rm-11-03-mclaren-automatic-flyback-chronograph/feed/0Low Price Replica Top 10 Watches At SIHH 2018 & A Industry In Mid-Stridehttps://www.repsswiss.com/low-price-replica-top-10-watches-at-sihh-2018-a-industry-in-mid-stride/
https://www.repsswiss.com/low-price-replica-top-10-watches-at-sihh-2018-a-industry-in-mid-stride/#respondTue, 08 May 2018 05:31:46 +0000http://www.repsswiss.com/?p=2469Depending on the angle of view, I move from finding the hands perfect to wishing they had 15-20% more surface area. The palms are thick, three-dimensional objects and though they...

Depending on the angle of view, I move from finding the hands perfect to wishing they had 15-20% more surface area. The palms are thick, three-dimensional objects and though they are on the smaller side, I am certain that they are rather hefty — and micro-rotor moves are seldom big on torque and therefore rarely fitted with massive hands.The counter-argument is that this is just as much a showpiece as it’s a watch and because it is still very legible, they decided to leave a little more space for the eyes to find the complex movement and not cover more of it up with much bigger hands.Over the past couple of weeks that I spent sporting the Richard Mille RM033 a whole lot, I remember two occasions when I was perplexed and had to look twice to inform the palms apart; the way they stood on the dial along with how the lights played, I wasn’t quite sure which one was that. Apart from these two exceptionally memorable moments of my entire life, I found legibility to be fantastic.

The watch industry is currently experiencing a season of change. This is especially true for those brands under the Richemont Group that dominate the important Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH). At no time during my decade in the watch industry have I seen more shifting of resources, power, and effort than now. That’s actually a good thing as the high-end watch industry is currently undertaking the massive challenge of reforming itself – though the process will take longer than the annual schedule of trade show news expectations allows for. No one, however, wants to be caught with their pants down, and it is admirable to see the effort the watch industry puts into the important show even though many of them are mid-stride not only in the development of new products, but also in terms of the many newly situated managers and creative professionals that run the brands.

The watch industry, if anything, excels at proud presentations. SIHH 2018 sees the 35 participating brands emphasize their greatest qualities with newly designed booths and lots of fresh optimism in the form of newly appointed managers and executives. With that said, little of the dust in the air at most of the brands settled, and many might argue that novelty-hungry luxury buyers may have been better off waiting another year for more impressive news and new product announcements. Alas, despite a decent volume of well-conceived new products, the talk at many watch brands isn’t what new products were shown at the show – but rather what upcoming developments they are excited about.

More than half of the big luxury watch brands we met with are currently experiencing or recently experienced complete shifts in their management. That means new CEOs, country manager, designers, and all the other bits and pieces that make these companies stick together. A palpable sense of “what brand am I at today” could be felt as many of the usual suspects in the industry find themselves handing out business cards with new names or titles on them. Richemont in general has been uncommonly open with their various restructuring plans, showing the human side of the often extremely-closed corporation “family.”

One of the more interesting areas of novel openness was the increased mention of the group’s in-house movement and parts maker, ValFleurier. Often referred to as “Richemont’s ETA,” (ETA is an important watch movement maker owned by competitor the Swatch Group), talk has shifted from “in-house made” to “in-group made.” Brands at the group are increasingly cognizant that their cooperative relationships are better spoken about than hidden behind language designed to promote their supposed independence and managerial autonomy (stories of which were often more optimistic fantasy than reality). Richemont more than ever is seen as a single body – perhaps with many arms, but one whose parts operate in relative unison. The corpus of the big group is grasping for stability, while at the same time recognizing that change will be the norm until it and much of the global economy settles itself.

Let’s return to how all this translates into the consumer experience, which I am proud to say will be positive for 2018 and beyond as new, often well-priced products are soon to come to market. Whether the industry has incorporated my advice over the years, or has come to the same conclusions independently, we are seeing important changes in a number of ways. When it comes to “mainstream” luxury products (not extremely high-end super luxuries) at SIHH, prices are generally down and value-propositions are trying to be pushed up. On paper the consumer does well, as we’ve never seen more decent products debuted at the show in the $10,000 and under category. Yes, there are some noticeable cost-cutting measures when it comes to simplifying production techniques and product detailing. With that said, offerings of new features and performance promises are hoped to swoon consumers who have been paying attention to what the industry has been doing over the last few years, but haven’t been putting down money as often as the brands hope for.

Enthusiasm for the wholesale model of selling watches first to retailers and then to end-consumers seems to be at an all-time low. It isn’t that brands are greedy to recapture margin, but rather that the traditional wholesale retail environment has failed in at least one very important area; marketing building. That translates into the fact that retailers – despite investing in buying products – still don’t seem to have much incentive to promote the brands they carry to their own local markets. The reasons for this are complex, but it has meant that the brand’s themselves have been saddled with the obligation to build consumer demand and awareness (through marketing and advertising) while still promising retailers world-class margins (profits on selling watches which average between about 40–50% per watch). Such margins made more sense when watch brands merely produced and delivered products, but these days with the brands having intensive marketing budget obligations, the old model of distributing watches is finally experiencing its last days as the dominant means of placing a luxury timepiece on the the wrist of a consumer.

To maintain positive relations with those retailers they still rely on, brands aren’t yelling “e-commerce” as loud as some might expect, but quietly most of the big luxury names are actively planning to sell direct or via digital retailers to consumers. The internet is potentially being embraced in a new way for 2018 and beyond, but watch brands still need to seriously bolster the intelligence and expertise in their marketing and communication departments. The message of needing digital and marketing fluency has been received, but at this point the industry simply doesn’t have enough good people internally already to handle the needs of all the brands. It will take a few more years before more of the luxury watchmakers have brought in the right talent to help them not only thrive on digital platforms, but also to cease making costly and often embarrassing “investments” in social media influencers and other half-cocked “get internet famous” schemes. As an industry that espouses the virtues of taking the slow, careful, well-thought-out approach, they still need to incorporate such wisdom in their often fluctuating marketing and advertising departments.

Hope is certainly there for an industry that has been much maligned in the recent past by its stubborn reliance on archaic business models which arguably stopped working decades ago. The digital reality most consumers live in is slowly being tolerated by the Swiss and other European interests that still dominate decision making at luxury watch brands. Knowledge on how to produce museum-worthy products is still accessible, and now brands need to match the same level of quality in their communication and distribution strategies. They are crawling to that point more and more each year – but the finish line may not yet be in sight. With that said, I’ve never been more optimistic about the future of the industry – even if I still can’t predict what it may look like.

Now lets take a look at the top 10 products that aBlogtoWatch feels are the best from SIHH, and represent the types of products and values watch consumers should be looking forward to in 2018 and beyond.

Montblanc TimeWalker Manufacture Chronograph

Last year Montblanc radically redesigned the iconic Timewalker collection into being a motor-enthusiast lifestyle watch with a hip look. This year in 2018 Montblanc adds what will easily be the collection’s most popular model among those who are seeking a trendy, well-groomed look as well as some horological street cred. Fitted with a new in-house chronograph movement, the Montblanc Timewalker Manufacture Chronograph has an attractive three register chronograph display, panda-style dial, and comes on an optional bund-style “cuff” black leather strap. It’s macho, a good value, and genuinely pretty to look at… and we think a lot of people are going to want one. Price: €4,990

Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Tourbillon

The luxury watch industry has no shortage of tourbillon-based watches to choose from. Looking at the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle, these new 18k pink gold or platinum timepieces include a stunningly well-decorated movement that features just the time with a tourbillon, in a slick automatic movement with a peripheral rotor that does little to hamper the view of the decorated parts. Topping it all off is the use of some of the industry’s best hands. Simply lovely, and a good way to show off about $100,000 on the wrist. Price: $118,000 in Rose Gold and $149,000 in Platinum

]]>https://www.repsswiss.com/low-price-replica-top-10-watches-at-sihh-2018-a-industry-in-mid-stride/feed/0Replica Buying Guide Exactly Why Richard Mille Watches Are So Expensivehttps://www.repsswiss.com/replica-buying-guide-exactly-why-richard-mille-watches-are-so-expensive/
https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-buying-guide-exactly-why-richard-mille-watches-are-so-expensive/#respondTue, 08 May 2018 05:24:20 +0000http://www.repsswiss.com/?p=2451Richard Mille watches start at around $80,000 USD and go up to several million dollars in price for some of their more exotic timepieces. Richard Mille releases at least a...

Richard Mille watches start at around $80,000 USD and go up to several million dollars in price for some of their more exotic timepieces. Richard Mille releases at least a few different $1,000,00+ watches per a year, and the average price of one of their tourbillon watches ranges from about $500,000–$800,000. These are enormous numbers even by luxury watch standards – so a very common question by consumers as well as others in the watch industry is “why are Richard Mille watches so expensive?”

Is it that Richard Mille products have that much inherent value and need to be priced that high? Or are there are other factors which allow the brand to (quite successfully) charge that much money for a single timepiece? I (and much of the aBlogtoWatch team members) have studied the Richard Mille brand for a while, spent time with their products, and also had the pleasure of getting to know a range of people at the company, including Mr. Richard Mille himself. It is with admiration that we attempt to unravel some of the branding secrets that have allowed Richard Mille to continue wowing its roster of elite customers with extremely expensive timepieces that they keep buying one after another.

Richard Mille himself is a key part of the brand’s special success. In may ways, without him the brand would not continue to be what it is today. I’ll spend a bit more time talking about how the Richard Mille man bolsters the efforts of the Richard Mille watch brand, but first a little of context. Richard Mille began his professional career in the watch industry during the beginning of the quartz crisis – a time when the traditional Swiss mechanical watch industry was heavily under threat from less expensive electronic quartz watches produced in Asia.

Richard Mille even worked for a company that was eventually sold to Seiko, one of the Japanese watch companies that not only was seen as a major enemy to the Swiss during this era (the Swiss have only recently begun to forgive the Japanese watchmakers), but was also one of a handful of companies aggressively trying to “buy up” many of the traditional watch brands. This time during the 1980s (especially the first half of the ’80s) was complicated and extremely transformational for the surviving traditional watch brands. For instance, at the time Switzerland had only 3% of the total share of watch sales around the globe. That 3% included almost entirely the top echelon of timepieces in terms of price. The implication was that the only watches the Swiss sold were luxury timepieces akin to jewelry (as opposed to tools) that were purchased by the very wealthy.

It was in this environment that Richard Mille not only learned the watch industry, but also gained his entrepreneurial spirit. In the early 1990s, he joined the French jewelry company Mauboussin as their head of watchmaking. Less than a decade later, the first Richard Mille-branded timepiece was released in 2001. Richard Mille quickly learned the importance of image, exclusivity, and lifestyle. He understood that while a high quality timepiece always has inherent value, most customers in the luxury sphere simply did not buy products because they were of a high quality. A special formula designed to create both demand and desire needed to be employed in order to ensure not only that customers purchased your luxury timepieces, but also that they kept coming back for more (despite becoming increasingly familiar with your brand).

I mention this last part about returning customers for a very specific reason. When the luxury image of a company is only skin deep (meaning they are selling mostly image and little substance) consumers have the tendency to wise up very quickly. High-end watch consumers tend to be very sophisticated people and strictly seek out value. Brands that are deemed to offer little value tend to not benefit from a lot of return business. Thus, Richard Mille was likely able to identify those brands who got lucky and sold one watch to people, as well as other brands who were able to maintain long-term relationships with customers who kept coming back.

Richard Mille is and was a major fan of motorsports. He even collects 1970s-era racing cars. I recall an amusing conversation with him a few years ago when he said that race cars produced after the 1970s were too difficult to collect (and drive) because merely starting the engine usually required custom-made electronics that in many instances were not available after a few years. Mille’s fascination with motorsports such as Formula 1 was integral to his development and growth of the Richard Mille brand.

Over the last couple of months when I had the RM033 around, event invites and traveling programs worked out in a manner that I was on the road a lot and thus meeting lots of new people — mostly journalists working from the opinion or fashion industry, but also watch industry insiders. Round of petty small talk, things come to either complimenting the readily identified iconic view of the individual sitting nearby, or, if it seems interesting in any way, the ever-green silence-breaker question arises: “So, What Watch Are You Wearing? “Together with the RM011, I was hardly ever asked this question. In Hong Kong I was greeted twice with “Ooh, you are wearing a costly watch!” Being shouted at me — and in other, more discreet configurations, nevertheless everyone with anything to do with the watch business knew more or less what the opinion has been. The Richard Mille RM033 is a completely different story.Soon after starting his brand from the early 2000s, Richard Mille known and also good field followed the (not-so-)secret recipe into luxury watch brand achievement: be daring and immediately recognizable. I mean, just consider any among the most successful luxury watches ever produced. Take the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak as a most fitting example: the Royal Oak was dumb expensive in 1972, but had an exterior unique enough that rich individuals consciously or subconsciously began (and very much continue) to gravitate towards it as they understand or at least feel how the Royal Oak, just like no other watch in the time and still few today, exhibits surplus wealth. For some enjoyable reading on a related subject, have a look at this article on the way the most iconic watches could be recognized only for their hand designs.

In the late 1990s when he was forming the idea of the Richard Mille brand and developing its first product (the RM001) with partner Audemars Piguet (more specifically the movement designer and maker APRP), Mille made his first important strategic decision – that his company would produce modern versus classic-style timepieces. The plan apparently was for Richard Mille to produce timepieces in the same way teams produced racing cars – with total neglect of production cost and focusing on the use of modern production techniques and materials for maximum performance. It is true that “performance” for a car versus a watch is slightly different, but the concept was more than enough to propel Richard Mille to where it is today – a company that more or less maintains the same direction with their product development philosophy. If anything, what Richard Mille was able to add to the initial formula was the importance of wowing and awing its elite customers – something the work of luxury products (of all forms) has needed to do for centuries.

So far I haven’t discussed why Richard Mille watches are so expensive, but my goal has been to properly frame the brand in its appropriate form so that the rest of the discussion below is clear for seasoned watch enthusiasts as well as other consumers who are intrigued by this uncommonly successful luxury watchmaker. In short, I will explain how one of the main value propositions of buying a Richard Mille watch is that it grants you access to an exclusive club, and that despite the price, no one offers more.

The Richard Mille RM 039 Tourbillon Aviation E6-B is one baffling watch. I mean, I am struggling to fathom how and why this incredibly complicated watch came to be, who the 30 people are that this million-dollar watch is for, and how 95% of its functions can ever possibly be used if you are not a trained pilot. Still, I went hands-on with it and pushed myself to try and understand it a bit more, and guess what, it actually had a few neat details up its sleeve to sort of work as rewards throughout the process.

Watches. Since we watch enthusiasts see so many of them all the time, we think we can judge after a first glimpse. To start with an obscure, rather than explicit feature of the RM 039, this watch sort of goes against all of that as it exemplifies why giving time to your eyes to see, your hands to feel, and your brain to think is a good idea before jumping to conclusions.

We’ll leave the 740-component movement for a bit later and start with the bonkers exterior. Off the bat, the RM 039 looks ridiculously massive – its round-ish case measures 50mm across and 19.40mm thick. The way it feels is a different story, however. Give it a better look and you’ll realize that it is more of a 45-46mm round watch that doesn’t even extend beyond the edges of my small, 6.75″ wrist. Yes, the 50mm adds up if you measure the watch across its bolstered case sides, but between 12 and 6, where it really matters for wearability, it’s a perfectly round case with some of the shortest lugs around – a design element many “historical” brands could learn from as stupid-long lugs are still very much a thing. Notably, Richard Mille watches are widely considered some of the most comfortable watches ever made and they either have no lugs whatsoever or very short and angled ones like we see here.

The case, like on any Richard Mille, is unbelievably well-made. Just look at that chamfer on the titanium edge one image above, or the heads of the spline screws that hold it all together, or the polished edge around the brushed pusher, or that ridiculously complicated crown and its perfectly flush pusher. Every single piece, just as we’ll see with the movement and dial too, is crafted (or rather, for the case, CNC-milled) as though it were a custom piece – which they, come to think of it, sort of are. The case band, the pushers, the sandwiched parts of the lugs, everything is individually milled from a block of metal, never stamped.

Here’s another interesting fact to consider: with only 30 of these ever made, each case-back, case-band, crown, pusher, bezel, and any other major component ever needs to be made 30 times over and that’s it… And while that many pieces could still be much cheaper to produce with a stamp, here they are all milled for a very, very long time.

For the case, after a turning operation lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes turns a billet into a piece of metal that other machines can work on, over 800 milling operations are required, demanding nearly 11 hours of separate operations. That is intersected and followed by meticulous quality-control procedures with the last one taking a full day for each case. The five pushers, their components, and the crown of the Richard Mille RM 039 Tourbillon Aviation E6-B require 10 days of machining, during which they undergo numerous tests for water-resistance and quality control, followed by the manual brushing and polishing of the entire case. That’s about two weeks to produce one case.

Richard Mille has its own case manufacture called ProArt that I visited here, but even with that capable handling of some of the brand’s extremely complex designs, there must be some suppliers needed to source the bezel, rubberized crown, and whatnot… And, since cost of manufacturing and final price has never been a limiting factor for a Richard Mille, they really can work with some of the best out there. It happens year after year with some of the quirkier mass-produced watch releases which require a special piece (maybe a special flange ring, pusher, crown, or weird logo), and said piece just stands out from the rest as the brand couldn’t find the right supplier. This is when said watches are called “a prototype” when we see it hands-on at its debut.

It would not be a book Richard Mille sports opinion with no tourbillon, which the RM 70-10 isn’t missing. The manually-wound 3Hz tourbillon-escapement grade RM07-01 movement has 70 hours of power book and suggests precisely the time. Most of the movement architecture is generated from titanium, and its allure is quite much in the design. Again, this view is supposed to function as prestigious super high-end lifestyle sports watch maker’s first foray into the world of biking (which, mind you, is just modestly exploited by the luxury watch industry now), so it needed to be as on-theme as possible.Richard Mile really took inspiration from bike pedals to the design of the movement — which you can kind of see. The motion offers only the moment, but also includes a discreet power reserve indicator close to the tourbillon. The “Mechanical Odometer” is technically its own system and can measure up to 99,999 Km (or whatever else you’d like the numbers to represent).On the wrist, that the Richard Mile RM 70-01 Alain Prost is not something I’ve yet seen, but the curved instance looks persuasive. It is produced by Carbon TPT, which offers that cool Damascus steel-style organic layered look. This is because, like layered steel, this case is machined pieces of carbon dioxide. The titanium case is 49.48mm wide, 54.88mm tall, and 17.65mm thick. This is not the first asymmetric Richard Mille watch (I believe one of the Yohan Blake models was), but the RM 70-01 is certainly the first that will capture most people’s interest.

The RM 039 is not all looks and no performance either – it is, bar none, the single most comfortable large watch I have ever worn. Even if I had not looked at it, just the way it felt wrapping around the wrist was a joy and made it really quite hard for me to give it back – my other option was to part with my hard-earned, imaginary 1-million dollars. In all seriousness, while the case construction looks and feels like a million bucks (pun intended), I cannot accept that the overall shape and wearing comfort could not be replicated in watches offered for a lower price. On a side note, although I have said it before (and will say it again): the more a strap is integrated into the design of a case, the better chance a watch has to be comfortable on the wrist – and now, look at that super deep integration of the strap on the RM 039. Maxing out the wearing comfort is the fact that the Richard Mille RM 039 Tourbillon Aviation E6-B comes with a tang buckle, not a stupid-thick deployant clasp.

]]>https://www.repsswiss.com/japanese-movement-replica-richard-mille-rm-039-tourbillon-aviation-e6-b-flyback-chronograph-watch-hands-on/feed/0Replica Buying Guide Richard Mille RM 27-03 Rafael Nadal Watch With A Tourbillon To Withstand 10,000 G’shttps://www.repsswiss.com/replica-buying-guide-richard-mille-rm-27-03-rafael-nadal-watch-with-a-tourbillon-to-withstand-10000-gs/
https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-buying-guide-richard-mille-rm-27-03-rafael-nadal-watch-with-a-tourbillon-to-withstand-10000-gs/#respondTue, 08 May 2018 05:07:42 +0000http://www.repsswiss.com/?p=2429Having been a die-hard, full-time watch nerd for a good while now, I find that even upon first seeing a complicated watch, I can identify its features and functions with great certainty, no...

Having been a die-hard, full-time watch nerd for a good while now, I find that even upon first seeing a complicated watch, I can identify its features and functions with great certainty, no matter how niche or weird they are. A brand that can still very much surprise me is Richard Mille who today, neatly just before the French Open, has presented their Richard Mille RM 27-03 Rafael Nadal “Tourbillon Shock Resistance,” the latest and weirdest Richard Mille that “Rafa” will wear while hitting tennis balls through space and time with his mighty forehand – on his way, most probably, to claiming another Roland Garros (French Open) title.

Specifically, what first baffled me about this new RM027 is the super-villain-logo style, V-shaped structural element of the movement… And then, second, the item of tech-data that jumped right out at me from the typically long listings of technical superlatives: 10,000 g’s (as in units of g-force). If you, like me, are thinking these two horologically highly atypical things are somehow connected, you are on the right track.

Although I am admittedly no physicist, I still feel safe in saying that 10,000 g’s is a hell a lot of g’s – fighter pilots with crazy g-suits and stuff can withstand about 0.1% of that. Now, to clarify – and I’m calling on Captain Wikipedia here to ensure that this explanation is correct – “The g-force (with g from gravitational) is a measurement of the type of acceleration that causes a perception of weight.”

To bring a real-life example to this: when a pilot really pushes the limits of his plane and himself (the planes actually last much longer than the pilots) and he pulls 10 g’s, that means that he feels like his body “weighs” 10-times what it actually does. When a Formula 1 driver corners with 3 g’s, the 2kg (5lb) helmet on his head feels like it weighs three times that much – and so on.

Needless to say, to be playing around with 10,000 g’s, we have to scale things down a lot – to the scale of watchmaking and its unbelievably tiny, yet highly functional components. When developing and fine-tuning the Richard Mille RM 27-03 Rafael Nadal “Tourbillon Shock Resistance,” the engineers at Richard Mille used a so-called “pendulum impact device” – something that, although present at select watch manufactures, also remains a rare and remarkably drastic method for testing the durability of a luxury watch.

The pendulum testing device does what it says on the cover: it features a hammer-like pendulum that can be let go from a set angle, which in turn determines the force it will apply to the watch. Richard Mille say they have tested the RM 27-03 with its sapphire crystal facing towards the pendulum, as well as the case’s 9 o’clock and crown sides being the point of impact. The watch would then be catapulted into a net – I imagine the game of “let’s find the million-dollar prototype on the floor” would grow tiresome quite soon.

All this is done because, as Richard Mille explains, the energy from the shock of the ball encountering the tennis racket is directly transmitted to the watch, just like the accelerations and decelerations resulting from the many arm gestures the player makes during a match. Furthermore, “according to measurements recorded by a Swiss microtechnology laboratory, a watch absorbs around 60 g’s of linear acceleration during the serve of an amateur tennis player. It is easy to believe that given Rafa strength and his intense playing style, the linear acceleration produced in his case could easily climb well past 100 g’s.”

Clearly, the goal with this, and in fact all previous RM027 models was to prove that a high-tech version of a tourbillon-equipped mechanical movement can, if engineered properly, withstand extreme shocks – and, on the side, to remind everyone that Richard Mille has not given up on maintaining its position as the leader in bonkers-cool (and crazy-expensive) high-tech watchmaking.

The Richard Mille RM 27-03 achieves its remarkable durability through a yet-newer take on constructing the case and movement as one singular unit. The case is TPT Quartz which is connected to a unibody baseplate in Carbon TPT, to which Grade 5 titanium bridges and reinforcements have been fitted. We covered the TPT Quartz case technology when we discussed the predecessor of this very piece, the RM 27-02, here.

While said TPT materials are mighty strong and feather-light, Richard Mille also had to vastly improve on the tolerances set for the manufacturing and assembly of the movement. Having visited a wide range of manufactures and chatted with their engineers and designers I know that the absolute majority of watch movements are produced with the smallest tolerance of 5 microns – that is 5 thousandth of a millimeter. This applies to the trickiest parts where the greatest precision is required, namely the drilling of the holes for the jewels: when two plates are laid over each other and they fall at the two opposing ends of the tolerance spectrum, the extremely fragile and small pinion of the wheel becomes much more prone to breaking upon impact – which is why that 5-micron amount has been set.

It wouldn’t be a novel Richard Mille sports watch without a tourbillon, which the RM 70-10 is not missing. The manually-wound 3Hz tourbillon-escapement grade RM07-01 motion has 70 hours of power reserve and indicates just the time. The majority of the movement architecture is generated out of titanium, and its allure is quite much in the plan. Again, this watch is supposed to be the esteemed super high-end lifestyle sports watch manufacturer’s first foray into the world of cycling (which, mind you, is just modestly exploited by the luxury watch business now), so it had to be as on-theme as possible.Richard Mile actually took inspiration from bicycle pedals for the design of the movement — that you can sort of see. The motion offers just the moment, but also includes a discreet power reserve indicator close to the tourbillon. The “Mechanical Odometer” is technically its own system and can step up to 99,999 Km (or anything else you would like the numbers to signify).On the wrist, that the Richard Mile RM 70-01 Alain Prost isn’t something I have yet seen, but the curved case looks persuasive. It’s produced by Carbon TPT, which offers that trendy Damascus steel-style natural layered appearance. That is because, like layered steel, this case is machined pieces of layered carbon. This isn’t the first asymmetric Richard Mille watch (I think one of the Yohan Blake versions was), but the RM 70-01 is unquestionably the first that’ll capture most people’s attention.

Now, the RM 27-03’s tourbillon and its parts – the weakest bits where a strong impact is first going to show its effects – are now crafted with a mind-blowingly small tolerance of just 1 micron. One. I presume they found that they can produce parts that are this close in tolerance, but with five times this much room to play with, they still met all previous expectations without having to discard the majority of painstakingly crafted components.

The accuracy with which the parts have to be manufactured is five times that of what it had been previously – given the literally microscopic scale of things we are talking about, an improvement of 20% or 40% would have been impressive, but to cut the tolerances straight to a fifth, that is exclusively Richard Mille levels of nobody-asked-for-this engineering… which is, as intangibly minuscule as it may be, also super impressive.

To call Richard Mille a “luxury sensation” would probably be accurate. The super high-end Swiss watch brand likely considers this almost $150,000 timepiece practically entry-level given its many million-dollar-plus creations – and yet, so much of why Richard Mille as a watchmaker is popular is in this particular limited edition watch. In a captivating marbled blue and white case produced from Quartz TPT material – the Richard Mille RM 11-03 Jean Todt 50th Anniversary timepiece is a salute to a friend of the brand as well as proof that even high-luxury can be trendy.

“Timeless and classic” are not terms you’d generally hear from anyone speaking about Richard Mille products – especially people at the company itself. Inspired by the philosophy of a total focus on the performance-over-cost mentality borrowed from other industries such as the world of Formula 1 racing, Richard Mille products are all about pushing the envelope of possibility.

All images by David Bredan

Depending on who you ask, that push by Richard Mille seems to be equally in areas of technical mechanics, design, marketing strategy, and of course, pricing. Let’s return to this particular limited edition of 150 pieces RM 11-03, which again sees Richard Mille paying homage to Mr. Jean Todt of racing, Ferrari, and Formula 1 fame. The particular purpose of the watch is on the thinner side, being directly attributed to celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jean Todt’s “career.” More specifically, like many other luxury watches, this product is, in fact, an authentic celebration trophy for Mr. Todt, his buddies, and fans (I wrote here why watches make the best trophies).

The celebration is indeed for Mr. Todt (and Richard Mille) as opposed to the buyers themselves, but it is a tacit reminder by Richard Mille to its consumers that “you should make or buy a watch when you too have such a celebration to recognize.” It is well established in the luxury world that consumers (no matter their budget level) are the most inspired to purchase something such as watch when they are seeking to commemorate something.

Based on the angle of perspective, I go from finding the hands ideal to wishing they’d 15-20% more surface area. The hands are thick, three-dimensional objects and though they are on the smaller side, so I am certain that they are fairly heavy — and micro-rotor movements are seldom big on torque and therefore rarely fitted with substantial hands.The counter-argument is that this can be just as much a showpiece as it’s a watch and since it’s still very legible, they decided to leave a bit more room for the eyes to find that the complex movement, not pay more of it up with even larger hands.Over the past couple of weeks that I spent sporting the Richard Mille RM033 a whole lot, I remember two occasions when I was perplexed and had to look twice to tell the hands apart; the way that they stood on the dial and how the lights played, I was not quite sure which one was which. Aside from these two exceptionally memorable moments of my entire life, I discovered legibility to be fantastic.

It’s a great opportunity for Richard Mille to experiment with colors and further develop the legendary RM 11 watch collection which helped put the brand on the map. In its advanced form, the RM 11 has the same useful movements, but an exotic case produced from Quartz TPT, a material produced in Switzerland and borrowed from performance vehicles. The material is a dense layering of hundreds of sheets of silica which are mere microns thick for each layer. The blue is merely cosmetic, but it wouldn’t be a Richard Mille without an invigorated splash of color.

Richard Mille first released a Quartz TPT-cased watch back in 2015 with the RM 27-02 Rafael Nadal. In that previous article you can learn more about the lightweight, yet very strong and visually interesting material. No, it isn’t as iconic as gold or platinum (but you can’t “impregnate” – which is the actual term Richard Mille uses – those traditional luxury materials with colors such as blue, red, green, yellow, and white as has been done to a range of high-end limited watches by the brand). A brief look at Richard Mille watches produced from Quartz TPT covered on aBlogtoWatch demonstrates the visual variety available – more so, how successful use of exotic and modern materials such as this have been for a brand like Richard Mille.

Richard Mille himself, and the brand do indeed hang closely with people like Mr. Todt. Part of the honesty in their relationship is what makes limited editions such as this perhaps more interesting to watch lovers than those we see from many other watch brands where the relationship feels a lot more like simple marketing. That Jean Todt and Richard Mille would continue to celebrate Todt’s life and achievements together makes sense – partially because Mr. Todt himself is the archetype of someone who should be a Richard Mille customer. More so, this RM 11-03 is far from the most expensive timepiece Richard Mille has made in honor of the man.

With that said, it happens to be particularly nice. Perhaps it is because blue as color is particularly en vogue right now, or because of how nicely the RM 11 collection has aged. What makes this watch special from a watch collector’s perspective is that the caliber RM11 movement continues to stand out. The 4Hz, 55 hour power reserve automatic combined both a chronograph as well as an annual calendar (month as well as a big date indicator) together. As practical as this combination seems to be, few if any other watch brands have attempted to offer a competing product.

The RM11 movement also looks fantastic. Entirely skeletonized, being produced using finely finished titanium bridges, the movement view is a less than subtle reminder to the owner of why an item such as this might cost so much. Few brands are as skilled as Richard Mille when it comes to displaying modern microcosms in their full mechanical glory. In an age when mechanical watches are increasingly distinct from their smartwatch siblings, showing off the guts of your watch has never been more popular.

The RM 11-03 in the Quartz TPT case follows the classic Richard Mille tonneau-shape but with some crenelation for the case screws. It is 44.5mm wide, 49.94mm tall, and 16.15mm thick. The watch comes on a “vented” custom black rubber strap and looks about as much like a contemporary super-machine on the wrist as you could hope for. If you need to explain why Richard Mille does as well as it does, it is because it respects the rules of traditional watchmaking while incorporating almost entirely modern design elements and themes. Richard Mille watches are also not at all shy about being noticed – and what I think is common across all Richard Mille owners is that they are happy about the perceived attention.

]]>https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-wholesale-suppliers-richard-mille-rm-11-03-jean-todt-50th-anniversary-watch-hands-on/feed/0Replica Wholesale Suppliers Richard Mille RM53-01 Tourbillon Pablo Mac Donough Watch Hands-Onhttps://www.repsswiss.com/replica-wholesale-suppliers-richard-mille-rm53-01-tourbillon-pablo-mac-donough-watch-hands-on/
https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-wholesale-suppliers-richard-mille-rm53-01-tourbillon-pablo-mac-donough-watch-hands-on/#respondTue, 08 May 2018 04:48:32 +0000http://www.repsswiss.com/?p=2392Thus far at SIHH 2018, no other watch has given me (and some others on the aBlogtoWatch team) more of a visceral response than the sexy and expensive new Richard...

Thus far at SIHH 2018, no other watch has given me (and some others on the aBlogtoWatch team) more of a visceral response than the sexy and expensive new Richard Mille RM53-01 Tourbillon Pablo Mac Donough watch. Ironically, neither the close-to-a-million-dollar price nor the wildly detailed and visible movement are responsible for the sense of “watch lust” I experienced. It also isn’t the RM53-01’s friendly color combination or modern, masculine look that are the main points of my focus. In truth, the RM53-01 is precisely the type of watch we expected from Richard Mille at the show.

All images by Ariel Adams

More interesting for me is that I have no particular familiarity or interest in the sport of polo – for which the Tourbillon Pablo Mac Donough was conceived to survive. This is actually the second (and more interesting) polo watch Richard Mille produced in collaboration with the popular South American polo player. Mac Donough’s first watch by Richard Mille was also designed to survive impacts common in the aggressive equestrian sport. The first watch was almost entirely covered in titanium with only small windows for the time and a view of the tourbillon. For the RM53-01 it was a specific point by Richard himself that the movement be very visible. So how else can you protect against impacts while also allowing one to enjoy the movement? Richard Mille attempts to effectively answer this question in two ways.

The first way is to incorporate a version of their movement suspension cable system. Introduced in an earlier Richard Mille watch for tennis player Rafael Nadal, the movement suspension system uses a series of two tiny metal cables on 10 pulleys and is held tight by four “suspensioners” to suspend the mostly titanium manually-wound tourbillon-based movement. Thus, cables absorb a lot of the shock that the watch might experience if knocked around. Rather than physical shock going into the movement and likely breaking it, the cable system absorbs a good deal of dangerous vibrations. Seeing how cool the tiny cables are to view is another pleasure unto itself.

Second, for the first time Richard Mille has developed a watch with a laminated sapphire crystal. The concept is similar to how safety glass for cars works. There are two pieces of sapphire crystal, which are laminated together with a clear adhesive film. Just by looking at the RM53-01’s crystal you wouldn’t know anything is different about it – and yet, it’s perhaps one of the most durable, super expensive watches available.

Wearing the RM53-01 on your wrist confirms just how important weight (or the lack thereof) is for luxury timepieces today. Sure, the feeling of a heavy gold watch is still very much real, but when it comes to exotic sport watches consumers want performance. In many instances high performance sport watches benefit from being light. Not only are they hard to notice on your wrist, but for a demanding athlete, removing all extra weight can mean the difference between winning and losing. Richard Mille isn’t claiming record-setting lightness for the RM53-01 (they have other models for that), but I can tell you that despite the relatively large size of the watch, it has an extremely light touch and feels like almost nothing is on your wrist while wearing it.

It isn’t hard to admire the watch off your wrist either. Richard Mille again uses TPT carbon for the case material, which is a layered form of carbon that is durable and really good looking. The RM53-01 case is 44.5mm wide, 49.94mm tall (lug-to-lug) and 16.15mm thick (water-resistant to 50m). The complicated case design mixed with the interesting strap system (with the effective but ironically non-luxury Velcro closure system) makes for an apt frame to show off the symmetrical and visually engaging in-house movement.

Powering the watch is a manually-wound tourbillon-based movement which offers just the time. It operates at 3Hz and has about two days of power reserve. As I said above, most of the movement bridges are in titanium, and the design of the movement is excellent because Richard Mille went out of their way to make it symmetrical, as well as a bastion of fine details for us horological enthusiasts out there.

What sells the RM53-01 is its persistent following of Richard Mille’s core values that make modern luxury sports watches exciting and fresh. It is a very fun toy with a price that will leave most of us feeling as though no matter how good we have been, only very rich boys will get to sit down at Richard Mille’s table and share his creations.

Limited to only 30 pieces, Richard Mille will no doubt introduce the technology and materials from the RM53-01 into future timepieces. This includes not only the newly upgraded cable suspension system, but of course the laminated, layered “safety” sapphire crystals which are destined to have application in a lot more contexts than just polo games. Why polo for now? It’s a sport that rich patrons tend to follow, as well as a traditional way to evaluate how rugged a timepiece is. Remember that the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso was originally designed as timepiece to be worn while playing Polo. While Richard Mille is doing polo watches their way (i.e. they must contain a tourbillon), their efforts are easily distinguished when compared to the rest of the high-end sports watch pack. More so, the beauty is that unlike the previous Pablo Mac Donough watch, the RM53-01 is very versatile and doesn’t require an understanding of the sport to love its inviting blue and glistening dark gray case along with its fine details and intricate movement. Price for this mega cool limited edition piece of haute horology is $900,000 USD. richardmille.com

The two Richard Mille RM 67-02 watches weigh just 32g each, which makes them Richard Mille’s lightest automatic watches ever. This is accomplished thanks to ultra lightweight materials utilized through the watch. The brightly colored shirt and back sections of the case are made out of super light but powerful Quartz TPT, as we’ve seen earlier in watches like this RM 35-02 watch for Rafael Nadal, while the case middle is made out of Carbon TPT. But that is not all. The screws used to ensure the case are created out of Grade 5 titanium and so are the foundation plates and bridges used from the movement.It also helps that the RM 67-02’s instance is rather tiny (for a Richard Mille, at least). Case diameter is 38.7mm and 47.5mm lug to lug. Water resistance is simply 30m, so it needs to be able to withstand sweaty athletes – if not much more liquid than that.The two watches are in reality identical and only differ when it comes to colours, which – even though they might seem more like flavors of ice cream – reflect the flags of the athletes’ countries. The Richard Mille RM 67-02 Sprint, which was made for Wayne van Niekerk, is decorated with the colors of the South African ruler and features a vivid green case with yellow accents. On the flip side, the Richard Mille RM 67-02 High Jump, made for Mutaz Essa Barshim, is decorated with the colors of the Qatari flag and features a deep crimson situation with white bands.Powering that the 2 watches is the caliber CRMA7, a skeletonized self-winding movement that’s made mostly from titanium. The rotor is made from Carbon TPT to reduce weight, however, the endings are made out of white gold to guarantee twisting efficiency. The motion has an extremely technical and somewhat industrial look, but it is really very highly completed with micro-blasted countertops and anglage, gray and black electro-plasma treatment for the baseplate and bridges, circular finishing on the wheels, and much more as is to be expected from Richard Mille.

]]>https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-wholesale-suppliers-richard-mille-rm53-01-tourbillon-pablo-mac-donough-watch-hands-on/feed/0Replica Watches Young Professional Richard Mille RM 70-01 Tourbillon Alain Prost ‘Cycling’ Watchhttps://www.repsswiss.com/replica-watches-young-professional-richard-mille-rm-70-01-tourbillon-alain-prost-cycling-watch/
https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-watches-young-professional-richard-mille-rm-70-01-tourbillon-alain-prost-cycling-watch/#respondTue, 08 May 2018 04:36:26 +0000http://www.repsswiss.com/?p=2380Today, Richard Mille debuts their first watch aimed squarely at the world of cycling (it even comes with a bike when you buy it). It is the RM 70-01 Tourbillon...

Today, Richard Mille debuts their first watch aimed squarely at the world of cycling (it even comes with a bike when you buy it). It is the RM 70-01 Tourbillon Alain Prost, and with its interesting “swoosh” case design, seems to have answered the question of “what if Richard Mille made one of those hand-held tally counters” – like the ones often used by event door men to count the number of people attending. It will be the ritzy modern-looking “super watch” brand’s latest toy to get its fans talking about the brand, as well as an exciting new look by the brand into the world of cycling.

This is going to be one of those weird and very rare Richard Mille watches everyone spends a few weeks asking why Richard Mille decided to make 30 of them, and whether or not the brand is losing their mind. In a few years from now, people will be remarking on the genius of the watch, all but forgetting their initial skeptical reaction to it. I can’t imagine how the entire concept of the watch didn’t begin as the product of a phone call between Richard Mille and Alain Prost, with one of them bringing up, “how do we make a watch for when you are on a bicycle. Why is there no Richard Mille tourbillon for cycling?”

My regret (as someone who likes bicycles) is that the innovation (outside the design – which might be the real winner here) in the watch is an incremental digital counter which Richard Mille relates to being like an “odometer.” Don’t overthink this. A panel on the dial has five rollers and is the display of the “totalizer.” Basically you manually enter each mile (or whatever you want to count) on the “horological odometer” and be on your merry way. Richard Mille says for example that cyclists can manually enter each mile they rode after the fact. How are they going to learn this? Probably by referencing a digital device that is recording the numbers of miles traveled – and that can keep track of this information anyways.

Richard Mille no doubt has other (let’s imagine they are nefarious) uses in mind for this totalizer complication. What if this were a watch for hit men or mercenaries to track their body counts? Or what if something much more mundane happens and people who own one of these rare luxuries will enjoy the uncommon experience of this exotic fidget spinner allowing you to count as high and pretty much anyone can in one sitting… and then resetting the total to zero. C’mon, it is about as cathartic as idly spending time on a casual smartphone game.

Richard Mille isn’t ignorant of the fact that the totalizer isn’t the most exciting innovation in the world of watches, but they do stress the upsides suggesting that the rollers align very precisely, that the system is designed to prevent “accidental manipulations,” and a lock to ensure overall stability. In other words, Richard Mille wants you to know that the process of pressing in digit after digit via the case button is going to feel incredible for all those tactile mechanical button fetishists (we know who we are).

It wouldn’t be a novel Richard Mille sports watch without a tourbillon, which the RM 70-10 isn’t missing. The manually-wound 3Hz tourbillon-escapement caliber RM07-01 movement has 70 hours of power reserve and indicates just the time. Most of the movement architecture is produced from titanium, and its appeal is very much in the design. Again, this watch is supposed to be the prestigious super high-end lifestyle sports watch maker’s first foray into the world of cycling (which, mind you, is only modestly tapped by the luxury watch industry today), so it needed to be as on-theme as possible.

Richard Mile actually took inspiration from bike pedals for the design of the movement – which you can sort of see. The movement offers just the time, but also has a discreet power reserve indicator near the tourbillon. The “Mechanical Odometer” is technically its own system and can measure up to 99,999 Km (or whatever else you’d like the numbers to represent).

On the wrist, the Richard Mile RM 70-01 Alain Prost isn’t something I’ve yet seen, but the curved case looks compelling. It is produced from Carbon TPT, which offers that cool Damascus steel-style organic layered look. This is because, like layered steel, this case is machined pieces of layered carbon. The titanium case is 49.48mm wide, 54.88mm tall, and 17.65mm thick. This isn’t the first asymmetric Richard Mille watch (I think one of the Yohan Blake models was), but the RM 70-01 is certainly the first that will catch most people’s attention.

Note as well that this is “exclusively” a “lefty watch,” which of course means the RM 70-01 is designed to be worn on your right wrist. This is because the shape means that the crown isn’t going to poke into your hand. This is especially an issue given the arm and hand position of a cyclist, where without a design such as this, a painful crown could be an issue. It remains to be seen how many people like this watch and also happen to be those people who wear watches on their right, versus left wrist.

The two Richard Mille RM 67-02 watches weigh only 32g each, making them Richard Mille’s lightest automatic watches ever. This is achieved due to ultra lightweight materials utilized through the watch. The brightly colored top and rear sections of the case are made out of super light but strong Quartz TPT, as we have seen before in watches like this RM 35-02 watch for Rafael Nadal, while the case middle is made from Carbon TPT. But that’s not all. The screws used to ensure the situation are created out of Grade 5 titanium and so will be the foundation plates and bridges used in the movement.It also helps that the RM 67-02’s case is quite tiny (for a Richard Mille, at least). Water resistance is simply 30m, therefore it should have the ability to withstand sweaty athletes – if not much more liquid than that.The two watches are actually identical and only differ when it comes to colors, which – even though they might look similar to flavors of ice cream – represent the flags of the athletes’ states. The Richard Mille RM 67-02 Sprint, which was made for Wayne van Niekerk, is adorned with the colours of the South African flag and features a bright green case with yellow beams. On the other hand, the Richard Mille RM 67-02 High Jump, made for Mutaz Essa Barshim, is adorned with the colours of the Qatari flag and comes with a deep crimson situation with white bands.Powering that the two watches is the grade CRMA7, a skeletonized self-winding movement that’s made mostly out of titanium. The rotor is made out of Carbon TPT to reduce weight, but the endings are made from white gold to guarantee winding efficiency. The motion has a very specialized and somewhat industrial look, but it’s actually very highly finished with micro-blasted sinks and anglage, gray and black electro-plasma treatment for your baseplate and bridges, circular finishing on both wheels, and much more as is to be expected from Richard Mille.

While I am not sold on this complication having too much of a future, I think this new case design will be revisited for future Richard Mille watches, and I look forward to trying it on for myself. I think it is a smart move for brands like Richard Mille to court cycling enthusiasts as another rich crossover area where people who also like watches seem to hang out. While we aren’t seeing car racing-inspired watches going away anytime soon, it sure feels good to see a bit more variety. With this expensive purchase, Richard Mille wants to make sure that you’ll be in their bicycle club with a “gift” that is a limited edition Colnago C60 road bike (in matte black carbon fiber, of course). The Richard Mille RM 70-01 Alain Prost is a limited edition of 30 pieces, with a price of $815,500 USD each. richardmille.com

]]>https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-watches-young-professional-richard-mille-rm-70-01-tourbillon-alain-prost-cycling-watch/feed/0Replica Expensive Richard Mille RM033 In White Gold Watch Reviewhttps://www.repsswiss.com/replica-expensive-richard-mille-rm033-in-white-gold-watch-review/
https://www.repsswiss.com/replica-expensive-richard-mille-rm033-in-white-gold-watch-review/#respondTue, 08 May 2018 04:24:56 +0000http://www.repsswiss.com/?p=2368In the world of automobiles, cars that have immense performance, but appear near stock and hence rather unassuming on the outside, are called sleepers. Well, if there has ever been...

In the world of automobiles, cars that have immense performance, but appear near stock and hence rather unassuming on the outside, are called sleepers. Well, if there has ever been a “sleeper” Richard Mille, the Richard Mille RM033 is definitely it.

This is the second Richard Mille watch that I get to review and wear for several weeks – the last one was the RM011 NTPT last year, reviewed here – and on both occasions I have them on the wrist as much as I can, to gauge not only how it performs as a watch, but also to see what sort of reactions, if any, they attain in different parts of the world.

This is interesting because us, watch nerds, all know Richard Mille watches to be extremely high-tech and unapologetically expensive. The thing is, though, these attributes we tend to think so much of do not completely (or often at all) define the wearability of the watch – both in the traditional and the “lifestyle” aspect of the word.

“So, What Watch Are You Wearing?”

Over the last few weeks when I had the RM033 around, event invites and travel schedules worked out in a way that I ended up being on the road a lot and consequently meeting many new people – mostly journalists working in the watch or fashion industry, but also watch industry insiders. On these occasions, once everyone is past the “How was your flight?” round of petty small talk, things come to either complimenting the easily identified iconic watch of the person sitting nearby, or, if it looks interesting at all, the ever-green silence-breaker question arises: “So, What Watch Are You Wearing?”

With the RM011, I was hardly ever asked this question. In Hong Kong I was greeted twice with “Ooh, you’re wearing an expensive watch!” being shouted at me – and in other, more discreet settings, still everyone with anything to do with the watch industry knew more or less what the watch was. The Richard Mille RM033 is a completely different story.

It should go without saying, Richard Mille is smart enough to know that the recognizable design and stratospheric price tag needs to be followed closely by cutting edge technological innovation — therefore the RM011, once you see, or better yet, wear one, you’ll understand was created in the get-go to be in its own little microcosm, safely shielded away in the competition. Having met the man a few times, a couple of weeks ago at last I could chat with him a little more — perhaps not much about watches but instead branding, ambassadors, partnerships, cars, even athletics (in relation to some of their future plans). What came out for me once again was that this immense energy radiating from him and kind of magnetically moving to his audience — he flew at precisely the exact same night from Taipei to Nürburg (not just a transfer hub) and yet bright and early he was already about, catching up with his colleagues and guests of this event. I am virtually useless, let alone presentable after an intercontinental flight, so that I could appreciate his tireless energy and extreme enthusiasm for whatever the subject even more.

Wouldn’t You Know…

Soon after starting his brand in the early 2000s, Richard Mille understood and with great discipline followed the (not-so-)secret recipe to luxury watch brand success: be bold and immediately recognizable. I mean, just look at any one of the most successful luxury watches ever made. Take the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak as a most fitting example: the Royal Oak was stupid expensive in 1972, but had an exterior unique enough that rich people consciously or subconsciously started (and very much continue) to gravitate towards it as they understand or at least sense how the Royal Oak, like no other watch at the time and still few today, exhibits excess wealth. For some fun reading on a related topic, check out this article on how the most iconic watches can be recognized just for their hand designs.

The RM011 with its trademark tonneau shaped, curved case.

Richard Mille made the unique-looking RM011 into its flagship piece. With its decidedly over-engineered, skeletonized dial and tonneau shaped case bent in every spatial dimension known to man, the RM011 became the 21st century Quint-Essential Ultimate Luxury Watch – the fact that it has since been copied across the financial food chain further proves the success of the design. It should go without saying, Richard Mille is smart enough to know that the recognizable design and stratospheric price tag has to be accompanied by cutting edge technological innovation – so the RM011, once you see, or even better, wear one, you’ll understand was designed from the get-go to be in its own little microcosm, safely guarded away from the competition. Its design, technical innovation and pricing rendered it largely incomparable to the deservedly famed old farts like A. Lange & Söhne, Vacheron, or Patek.

…It’s A Richard Mille

There is a very specific Richard Mille way of doings (not to be confused with The Rolex Way) both in terms of product design, and branding alike. Having met the man a few times, a few weeks ago at last I could chat with him a bit more – not much about watches but rather branding, ambassadors, partnerships, cars, even athletics (in relation to some of their future plans). What really stood out for me once again was this immense energy radiating from him and sort of magnetically transferring to his audience – he flew in the same night from Taipei to Nürburg (not exactly a transfer hub) and yet bright and early he was already around, catching up with his colleagues and guests of the event. I’m virtually useless, let alone presentable after an intercontinental flight, so I could appreciate his tireless energy and intense enthusiasm for whatever the topic even more.

All this noted, thanks to the aforementioned Magic Mixture of pricing and recognizability, the RM011 became the “go-to, f**k-all rich watch” of our time – and while the uncannily amazing wearing comfort and the balance of design is what makes it the grail Richard Mille for many, it may at this point be a bit too ubiquitous (as much as a $150,000-dollar watch can possibly be). Therefore, I imagine there to be a growing group of buyers who desire all that Richard Mille as a watch brand can offer, but without the immediate attention and all that comes with that. And that’s where a sleeper Richard Mille comes into the picture.

Design & Execution

The Richard Mille RM033 belongs to what is an exclusive, though slowly expanding group of Richard Mille watches: that of the round ones. If you really, really know watches very well, then you’ll probably be able to tell from the other side of the dinner table that this is a Richard Mille – but the absolute majority of people I have met, even those who are in the watch industry, couldn’t tell that this was “an RM.”

The Richard Mille branding at 12 o’clock is almost microscopic and while the large, futuristic looking Arabic numerals are very much an RM design, they from afar I presume are difficult to tell apart from the busy looking, skeletonized movement right behind them. There is another version of the RM033 with bold Roman numerals all around the dial – that is a more often seen iteration of the RM033 that I guess a few more would have recognized from a distance.

So, while Richard Mille’s tonneau shaped watches are, rather deservedly, said to be watches that many wear not only for themselves, but just as much for others to see, the brand’s round watches, and especially this very RM033, is the exact opposite of all that.

At 45.70mm wide and available in titanium, or 18k white or red gold, the Richard Mille RM033 is just 6.30mm thick, all cased up. Although that renders it one fantastic object to hold in the hand, such filigree dimensions also allow the RM033 to slide under shirt sleeves with ease. The RM011 is well over twice as thick and hence a hundred times less likely to slide under even a loose sleeve of a shirt or jacket. Wearability we’ll talk about in just a bit, but since we are talking exterior, let’s take a closer look at the quality of execution.

Despite its slim case, the RM033 has fantastic volume to it. The “spline screws” that hold the bezel, case-band and case-back together force the case-band to have protruding tunnels for the screws to go through, while everywhere else on the case’s side, plenty of material has been removed. This negative space actually adds volume to the RM033 – with bare eyes, or even looking through a high magnification loupe or macro lens at smaller segments of the case, there is just so much to look at and appreciate.